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Richardp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 16, 2005
2
0
I wonder if anyone can help me? I am getting distorted playback with iTunes on a Dell Inspiron. This is the only application where the sound is distorted (it sounds like it is being played underwater)! This has only just started happening. I have tried reinstalling iTunes but this has not helped.
 

plinden

macrumors 601
Apr 8, 2004
4,029
142
Richardp said:
I wonder if anyone can help me? I am getting distorted playback with iTunes on a Dell Inspiron. This is the only application where the sound is distorted (it sounds like it is being played underwater)! This has only just started happening. I have tried reinstalling iTunes but this has not helped.
I had what sounds like a similar problem with my Dell some time ago (it sounded like it was "underwater"), but it affected all audio applications (like Windows Media Player), not just iTunes. I can't remember exactly how I fixed it (I've since reinstalled XP anyway) - but I seem to recall it being something to do with an incorrect audio driver.
 

Richardp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 16, 2005
2
0
Problem solved!

Thank you for your help. I have managed to track down the following which was successful for me and I post here in case anyone else has the same problem.

The sound quality is poor/garbled/ crackles/skips.

This most often indicates the need to adjust your QuickTime settings. iTunes uses QuickTime for audio playback. Many folks have provided this solution, but MacMuse seems to have the easiest version to read.

* quit iTunes
* open Windows Control Panel - QuickTime entry
* Sound Out option, set it to 'wavout:Windows preferred device' -or- 'wavout:name_of_soundcard'
* reboot
* try iTunes again

If that doesn't help, audio drivers are the next tactic. Check for the card's vendor details in Device Manager and then hit their website (not Microsoft) for any upgrades.
 

paleck

macrumors 6502a
Apr 11, 2005
572
0
with the Tequila!
Richardp said:
I wonder if anyone can help me? I am getting distorted playback with iTunes on a Dell Inspiron. This is the only application where the sound is distorted (it sounds like it is being played underwater)! This has only just started happening. I have tried reinstalling iTunes but this has not helped.

I have an Inspiron 8500 and have run into this problem every so often myself. It generally seems to happen when multiple applications are trying to access the sound card at the same time. And it usually hits iTunes when when it switches songs. Sometimes simple closing iTunes and Quicktime will fix it, though sometimes I have to shutdown completely to clear it up. I have reinstalled XP cleanly and it still happens, though not as often.
 
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